“I am pleased to inform you that I will Address the Nation on the Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern Border. Tuesday night at 9:00 P.M. Eastern,” the commander in chief wrote on Twitter.

After some deliberating, the four major networks — ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC — said they will carry the address live from the Oval Office, providing Trump with a platform to pressure Democrats on a deal that would end a partial government shutdown that enters its 18th day on Tuesday.

Trump could use the speech, estimated to run eight minutes, to declare a national emergency in order to build the wall along the Mexican border, as he threatened to do Friday and again over the weekend.

“We’re looking at a national emergency because we have a national emergency — just read the papers,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday.

Vice President Mike Pence said Monday that White House lawyers were examining the legality of such a move and that Trump hadn’t made a decision.

“Now that the television networks have decided to air the President’s address, which if his past statements are any indication will be full of malice and misinformation, Democrats must immediately be given equal airtime,” read a joint statement from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Most of Trump’s weekend meetings at Camp David were about finding a way to reopen the government departments that have been closed since Dec. 22, but without looking as if he had capitulated to Democrats, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The White House earlier on Monday announced that Trump would visit the southern border on Thursday to get a close look at what the president repeatedly has called a “crisis” situation — a description Democrats dismissed as fantasy.

No details were released about Trump’s trip, although the Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice that airspace over the vicinity of McAllen, Texas, would be restricted Thursday because of a “VIP movement,” The Washington Post reported.

McAllen is home to a Customs and Border Protection facility where migrants who have crossed illegally into the United States have been detained

The Democratic-controlled House passed spending bills that would fund the government agencies that have shut down until Sept. 30, and Homeland Security until Feb. 8, giving the parties time to negotiate a deal on border security.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he’ll take up only spending bills that Trump supports, and the president insists he won’t accept any measure that doesn’t fund the wall.

Trump has demanded $5.6 billion for a multi-mile project, while Democrats have offered only $1.3 billion for increased border security.

Schumer repeated Monday in Manhattan that negotiating with Trump is like talking to “a bowl of Jell-O” because of his ever-shifting positions.

“Maybe he thinks he can bully us. But I’m from Brooklyn,” Schumer told business leaders at the Association for a Better New York’s monthly breakfast.

Schumer said Democrats won’t cave to Trump over the wall because it would encourage him to hold other important issues hostage down the road.

“In March, the debt ceiling comes up. If you allow Trump to prevail [over the border wall], it will create greater chaos, not less,” Schumer said.

He called on McConnell to “step up to the plate” and pass spending bills. “People are being hurt because of Trump’s temper tantrum,” Schumer said.

In November 2014, the broadcast networks turned down then-President Barack Obama’s request for a prime-time slot to talk about immigration because they deemed it too partisan. It was carried on cable.

That address drew about 14.6 million viewers via multiple channels, while CBS’s top-rated ”Big Bang Theory” alone drew about the same audience, according to Nielsen.